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Abstract

Positive affect is fundamental to ensuring good animal welfare. Discrete and dimensional theories of emotion have recently been used to explore the relation between cognition and affect and to develop cognitive measures of positive affect. Human quality-of-life assessment focuses on positive affect, which is difficult to measure objectively in dogs. Expanding on Kujala’s (2017) discussion of positive emotions and cognitive measures of affect, I suggest how these are relevant to assessing canine quality of life.

Author Biography

Patrizia Piotti,post-doctoral researcher in veterinary behavioural medicine and comparative cognitive neuroscience, currently studies cognitive ageing in dogs with the Senior Family Dog Project, Eötvös Loránd University. Patrizia’s other research interests are canine collaborative behaviour, individual differences in nonhuman animals and humans, and psychoneuroendocrinology.